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More Convenience For Electric Vehicle Owners in Utah

energytrends.org

Many of the problems about owning an electric vehicle deals with charging-station locations and the charge time. Utah isn’t leading the country in EV ownership, but it is growing. There’s approximately 2,100 registered EV’s in Utah.  

Tammie Bostick Cooper, who represents Utah Clean Cities, wants to see a growth in EV ownership in Utah because transportation is one of the biggest factors for the state’s poor air quality.

Upwards to 70% of the pollution is caused by transportation

“In Utah specifically, our air quality is so effected for many reasons but primarily geographically. [Salt Lake] is similar to Logan in that we have this sort of bowl where the air gets trapped into our valleys. That put us on the forefront of finding solutions. And the most obvious solution for the Wasatch Front was that upwards to 70% of the pollution is caused by transportation. Very safely we can say that more than 50% is.”

Cooper said that the first modern EVs could travel, at most, 30 miles on a single charge. Companies saw a new market and aimed to make the battery, the life blood of the car, more efficient. As of 2015, the average mileage of an EV is 80. The Tesla travels the farthest with 250 miles.

The battery industry has just taken off astronomically in the last year

“The battery industry has just taken off astronomically in the last year. So the competition is there. The interest is there. And batteries are just becoming much more efficient. They’re using lithium batteries now …  they’re much more efficient and they’re cleaner. They have a better charge and a better retention.”

Another aspect companies are looking into is the amount of time it takes to completely charge the battery. Many charging stations take hours to recharge a vehicle. The company EVgo came out with new fast-charging stations that can charge an EV in 30 minutes. Six of these stations were just installed in Salt Lake City, Park City, South Jordan and at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi.